Wednesday, August 27, 2014

I am currently on a two hundred mile horse-ride with Winona LaDuke www.HonorTheEarth.org in response to the Enbridge fracked oil pipeline proposal through her sacred native lands. Please visit her website to get more details.

I'll have sparse reception, or none at all for lengths of time, but if you leave me a message I'll respond just as soon as I can.

LaDuke and her team will be holding a press conference this Thursday,
August 28th, at 3PM CST at the Enbridge headquarters, 1129 Industrial Park
Drive SE, Bemidji, MN 56601.

The epic horseback journey traversed Sandy Lake and Rice Lake
watersheds, the mother lode for wild rice in Minnesota. The proposed pipeline
would divide the traditional wild rice beds from East to West.

Michael Dahl, Anishinaabe spiritual leader and rider explained, “This
is the same path our ancestors walked. Now we are riding in those same
footsteps. We are here to protect this land for future generations.”

LaDuke says “Enbridge chose a bad path. The people of Minnesota love
their water more than oil and they are standing up against the pipeline. A
single leak in the pipeline could discharge 20,000 gallons of fracking oil per
minute. This could lead to an environmental catastrophe.”

Honor the Earth is gathering at the Bemidji headquarters of Enbridge to
say no to any pipelines going through their lands. LaDuke will be onsite for
questions and answers and invites all landowners that would be affected by the
fracking oil pipeline, grassroots organizations, general public and all media
outlets to attend.

This event is to inform the communities, and affected landowners, about
the organization’s recent and upcoming activity for the STOP the Sandpiper
campaign. All communities, grassroots organizations, affected landowners, and
Enbridge are invited to attend.

Monday, August 4, 2014

We watched in horror
as you blatantly hijacked Colorado’s democratic process, by throwing out nearly
300,000 signatures for statewide initiatives 88 and 89 that you yourself said
were “sensible regulations on fracking.” You represent a district where five
communities passed local initiatives that voted “yes” to moratoria and bans on
fracking, yet you failed to represent those constituents, your constituents.

In the Colorado
constitution, it states that all political power is vested in the people.
Though our political process has largely been usurped by money and party rule,
you the politicians forget that “We the people” are the party. You work for us
and we have spoken. What you and the Democratic Party have done in this state
is hijack our democratic process.

In less than six week’s
time, we made it clear that we expect our right to “clean air, pure water and
natural and scenic values” to be represented in the Colorado Constitution. And
we expect that our local governments are there to protect us. By withdrawing
these initiatives, you also withdrew the voice of Coloradans.

You have said, in
essence, that 'we the people' should not have the right to protect our
communities from fracking. You, left us naked and unarmed to protect ourselves
from what, by default, are non-sensible regulations which violate rights to
safety. In Colorado we have 52,000 active oil and gas wells, 74,000 abandoned
wells, 13 inspectors, 500 spills a year. That’s two a day now, Jared.

Your actions prove
that we not only have an environmental crisis, but also a democracy crisis. We
are not bargaining chips in some sort of game of Chicken with the Democratic Party
and Governor Hickenlooper. We demand that you carry out the intent of the
people who signed these initiatives in good faith. We demand you allow us to
submit them if you will not. The democratic process is not yours to steal. It,
like Colorado’s environment, is the common property of all Coloradans.

Protecting the health
and welfare of Coloradans from the harms of the fracking industry should never
be a poker game. These are real people’s lives at stake.

GRASSROOTS PRESS CONFERENCE WILL BE AT 4:00 PM ON THE SIDEWALK OF THE MEADOWS BRANCH PUBLIC LIBRARY. BRING YOUR SIGNS AND YOUR VOICE!

"This deal does nothing for the Broomfield residents who voted last November to get more information on the health and property impacts of fracking. It will not protect us. We are severely disappointed that politics are being played with families and our lives,” said Laura Fronckiewicz with Our Broomfield.

“This ‘compromise’ will do nothing to address the fact that the oil and gas industry, in league with Governor Hickenlooper and the State of Colorado, continues to sue communities for voting to protect themselves from fracking. Local communities should not be pre-empted when it comes to protecting our health, safety and property from the dangers that flow from fracking, an extreme industrial activity,” said Kaye Fissinger, President of Our Health, Our Future, Our Longmont. "The people of Longmont and all Coloradans have constitutional rights that protect their health and welfare. It is past time when all branches of government need to honor those rights."

"We are outraged to see politicians once again prioritizing political expediency over the health and well being of Coloradans. The proposed compromise represents a failure on the part of both Polis and Hickenlooper to protect Coloradans from the dangers of fracking,” said Russell Mendell of Frack Free Colorado. “This is further evidence that real progress cannot come from the top down, and true change will continue to come from citizen, grassroots organizing. There are hundreds of thousands of Coloradans who have been involved with local community efforts to protect their communities from fracking, who feel betrayed by this back room deal making. This deal only strengthens our resolve to work in our communities for real citizen initiatives that will ensure a safe and healthy future for all Coloradans. It’s time for Coloradans to stand up take back our democratic rights.”

"The Mother's Project wholeheartedly opposes Rep Jared Polis' decision to withdraw the voices of Colorado communities. Polis' actions are the cancer of our failed Democratic system and it must be stopped immediately." Jodee Brekke

"You need a civics lesson Jared. It appears that your power, position and profits have given you the illusion that you are separate and apart from the rest of us. So let us be the ones to educate you on the rights of the people that the Colorado State Constitution guarantees will be upheld and defended by our government. " Mary Smith

Article II, the Bill of Rights, begins, "In order to assert our rights, acknowledge our duties, and proclaim the principles upon which our government is founded, we declare:

Section 1. Vestment of political power. All political power is vested in and derived from the people; all government, of right, originates from the people, is founded upon their will only, and is instituted solely for the good of the whole.

Section 2. People may alter or abolish form of government � proviso. The people of this state have the sole and exclusive right of governing themselves, as a free, sovereign and independent state; and to alter and abolish their constitution and form of government whenever they may deem it necessary to their safety and happiness, provided, such change be not repugnant to the constitution of the United States.

Section 3. Inalienable rights. All persons have certain natural, essential and inalienable rights, among which may be reckoned the right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties; of acquiring, possessing and protecting property; and of seeking and obtaining their safety and happiness.

We intend to codify these rights, once again, in our Boulder County Home Rule Charter and continually assert them to insure that you and yours understand that "we the people" are the authority, that government is an extension of our will and exists for the good of the whole, and that, as our elected representative, you work for us."

FRACTIVIST

An organized resistance against the harmful toxic extraction industry for the common good of environmental and human safety.

I build, organize and educate communities to become aware of the harmful impacts from oil and gas extraction. I supply factual, unredacted official data to public and private organizations, Universities, elected officials and scientists to use in-part, or in whole, to better understand the various ways the oil and gas industry and the State of Colorado have failed to prevent adverse impacts to the environment and the citizens.

Climate change was yesterday. We are now in a climate crisis.

We need 'Healthy Energy' not another dirty fossil fuel. If the solution is not healthy, we don't want it!

We are smarter than a fossil fuel.

Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission Data and Failures

ü43% of all operator spills result in groundwater contamination in Weld County - 17.5% statewide.

ü2003-2012 Weld County, CO - 1.7 million gallons of produced water and oil never recovered from the ground after operator spills. It's still in the environment.

ü2.4 billion square feet of surface has been contaminated by 1,000 O&G surface spills. Study:1,000 spills in Weld County, CO

üLaramie-Fox Hills Aquifer was contaminated with toluene and thermogenic gas by an O&G operation in 2009 - Weld County, CO

üColorado has 129,073 Completed O&G facilities. ~50,000 are active and ~79,000 are inactive.

üEarly statistics show that ~55% of all abandoned wells are being re-entered/re-drilled.

üColorado has over 10,000 reported industrial waste spills on record.

üThere have been over 8,000 oil and gas related public complaints filed with the COGCC.

üThe burden of expense has been shifted to the local emergency response departments to battle any fires or mishaps. This expense has been shifted by the oil and gas industry to citizen tax payers, meaning 'you.'

üThere have been over 5,000 'Notice of Alleged Violations' filed by the COGCC.